Anyone tried Mille Drive

Hurricane

Hurricane

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I know I'm looking for the impossible but has anyone got any good treatments for bronze props?

So far I favour Velox Plus from Marlin Paint - see here http://www.marlinpaint.com/EN_MARLINPAINT_HOME.html
All the googling I've done has turned up only good reports but I cant seem to get it in the UK.

In desparation I've found this Blakes product - price seems good - will it work on a couple of big props?
Here's a press release from Blakes http://www.blakespaints.com/internet/ine...E1?OpenDocument

Any thoughts - and yes, I know the answer is a diver just before you use the boat but I want to have a go at one of these treatments.
 
Tried Mille drive on outdrives and found that it doesn't last long compared to Trilux paint on, not the spray. The spray is too thin. International do Trilux in small tins which are about the same price as the Mille drive spray
 
I used it on the T46 in UK waters, and it quickly came off the high wear parts of the prop (I have diving gear on board so was able to see how well it lasted). Like all prop treatments, it's better than nothing, and stops the props fouling from the time the boat goes in the water, until you give it a good run, but thick grease will do pretty much the same.

I'm going to try the Seajet Pellerclean this year, so we can compare notes if you do try the Velox.
 
Just read the two links in your post. First off the Velox site doesn't say how many hours the props have done, so the results are meaningless. Second, it seems Blakes are saying they've developed a new primer for the mille drive, which I didn't use 'cos it wasn't available then. I think the main problem with all prop paints is adhesion, so maybe this new primer will help, though I have my doubts
 
Thanks Nick

Interesting that you are trying something this year.

Funny, I phoned Col last night because whe I saw him at Christmas he mentioned the SeaJet Pellerclean stuff. I only managed to speak to him whilst he was enroute to his boat but he did say that he had applied it once - I believe its a kind of Teflon type of coating. However, after speaking to him, I googled and found quite a few reports that it was a waste of time.

Titan do one - http://www.titanlux.com/productos.asp?id_linea_producto=5
I believe that this is the one that the local yards in Sant Carles use on the local boats which are reported to be free from barnacles.
BTW - if you look at the Titan Yate section, they have a prop product - contains Hostaflon - again a sort of Teflon.

I would really like to try the Velox one though.

I've googled very hard on all the treatments and all have complaints except the Velox one - not a single complaint. So I phoned the manufacturer in Italy and spoke to a guy whoe not only spoke very good English but also seemed knowlegable. He said that he couldnt yet supply the UK but when I said that it was for Spain he said that they had been supplying their previous product (Velox - not Velox Plus). The new one is supposed to be better but I think he was trying to tell me that there was still a lot of the old stuff in circulation.

I got the name from Peter at PMYS who said that one of his clients in Croatia with a P58 "swears" by the stuff.

So - I wonder - is Velox Plus the answer.
 
Bought a tin of that volvo stuff last May the 3 tin packet Veridian I think only to find when I got to the boat it should be used on bronze props /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif so having polished them remarkably well in 30 seconds with a steel wire brush in an angle grinder I slapped on a thin coat of International primocon followed an hour later by a coat of micro extra that was left over from a previous year, so wasn't expecting much. Okay it's a yacht but we motored about 200 hours last year and when we lifted in Oct we were astonished to see nearly all the polsihing antifouling still in place and most of the primocon on the tips and leading edge. So we cleaned them up and re-coated them the same way again. Would it work on a powerboat, don't know our props is16" dia and at cruising speed do between 1000 and 1500 rpm.

Pete
 
Thnx for the Titan link. My bloke in Majorca uses Titan A/F on my hull but I've never found a link to the product. Don't know about the Hostaflon product but the A/F works well
Btw did S Carles experience the storm that went thru the Med recently?
 
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Btw did S Carles experience the storm that went thru the Med recently?

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Yup - I got an email from the manager saying this

You may have heard about the storm that has been raging through Spain and France today. It has been incredibly windy in Sant Carles today, amongst the windiest conditions I have ever seen. However, it was forecast and we took the precaution of checking everything yesterday before the wind started and apart from a power cut which has affected a large part of the coast where we are, we have escaped any major problems. Dockmasters have continually been checking boats throughout the day and will carry out more checks tomorrow when we are expecting the storm to have passed through. Any problems will be reported but so far, so good.

So I think everythings OK and all looks still on the webcam this morning.

Onto the AF
I've had a very good discussion with Blakes/Hempel this morning.
They are recommendin their Hard Racing AF for the hull to go on top of the Seatech that was put on in the factory.
On the props, they recomend a two part primer (and I think that this is the key - if you excuse the pun). The process is critical. After cleaning the props, you lightly burnich off (scratch the surface with a coarse sandpaper. Then, immediatly (before any tarnish sets in) coat in the first coat of this two part primer. Then before if goes hard - and just as it gets sticky - give it a second coat - and then again just before it goes hard give it a coat of their Hard Racing antifoul. Follow up with three more coats of the AF.

This procedure was outlined by the Blakes expert here in the UK but he just suggested ordinary underwater primer. He then he put me onto the Hempel guy in Spain who was quite adamant that the two part primer was the way to go - I believe that this is what the Spaniards are doing. The Spanish guy, who sounded very knowlegable, wen on to say that there is some development going on at the moment with silicone based products for the future.

Anyway, I think I will try this primer/AF treatment. We are going to Malta and back this year - it will be a good test for it I should think.

If anyone's interested, the Blakes expert in the UK has all the underwater design sizes for all the Princesses (as calculated by Princess themselves) and can advise how much AF is required for all the Princess models. If anyone's interested I can give his contact details.
 
Mmm, I've heard nowt from my bloke re the storm which is bound to have hit Majorca if it hit S Carles. I better e mail him
V interested in any feedback on prop treatment as I would love not to use expensive diver but as he points out he also cleans the shafts, rudders, seawater intakes and bowthruster as well. The bowthruster is another issue as it loses efficiency significantly when it gets fouled but, at least on my boat, the b/t prop is plastic so I'm not sure whether any prop treatment can be applied
 
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at least on my boat, the b/t prop is plastic so I'm not sure whether any prop treatment can be applied

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You'll have to get it really hot first before any antifoul will stick /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Thats interesting, I called Sidepower and asked them what to do - they simply said "Trilux" so all I was going to do was to paint the thruster props with te same AF as the boat.

On the props though
I'm now in a bit of a quandry.
Marlin (the manufactures of Velox) have just emailed me and this is the treatment that I really wanted to try. They are offering me a free trial. I've accepted so we'll see if it arrives. As I said above - this could be the answer to all our problems. I think our run this year could be a very good test for it as well.
 
Yep: Thats whay I'm going with this year: Abrade with 120 grade, wash down with detergent, 2 or 3 coats of Interprotect Epoxy Primer and 2 coats of Trilux!

With regard to SCM: I also received an email, no further reports of damage yet!
 
You get a different story depending who you talk to! Bloke at Vetus told me not to bother with antifouling b/t prop 'coz the paint would fall off after a few operations
 
Actually, I am convinced that barnacles are man made organism created in a small IKEA-like shed just behind the International paint factory, adjacent to Blakes.

Apparently the creators stuck to their original objectives and are now doing well(s) riding the current (?) storm, its now a world-wide industry as the bottom has not yet fallen out of their market…….
 
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